Swedish Activist Apprehended At Tel Aviv Airport

Swedish ISM-activist Shora Esmailian is currently being held at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. She arrived 15.00 yesterday and was interrogated for ten consecutive hours. A representative from the Israeli Defence Departement in charge of the interrogation demanded information from Esmailian about certain Palestinians. We do not know if Esmailian even has any information. Israeli authoroties appear to be blackmailing her for entry into the country. Apparently thousands of blackmailed Palestinian collaborators are not enough.

The Israeli government would now like to destroy the relationship between foreigners and Palestinians by creating suspicion. However, they cannot jail foreigners forever, nor can they torture them. So this policy will fail. Shora has refused to collaborate and was denied entry – without any stated reason. In spite of repeated requests, neither the Swedish General Consulate in Jerusalem nor the lawyer has been informed about the reasons for the apprehension.